Close fisheries to save West Coast killer whales, says federal report

Anyone care to guess where these strategic closures will take place ? areas 19 and 20 Also anyone care to guess when these strategic closures will take place? When the whales are here.

To recreational fishers of areas 19 and 20 Death by a thousand lashes Maybe Jimmy would like to give the whales his quota

There is supposed to be an online website open for 60 days that you are able to give your comment but I have yet be able to locate it
 
Save the bees, save the whales save those snails. Good grief the payed environmentalists again. Isnt it funny how the news is strategic after the FN gripe in area 19 and 20.

I don't buy this Orca debate myself. If DFO wants to do something they would be putting similar projects they just gave Sooke up and down the coast. I am just hoping that light bulb turns on one of these days.

Watch them not allow fishing but let whale watching continue.
 
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If POPs/PCBs/PBDEs contamination is having that big of an effect on orcas - how is giving them MORE of the contaminated food going to HELP them? Not sure what the answer is - outside of trying to clean-up the leachate sources - wherever those are.

AND...

If it's bad for orcas - how can it be ok for us?...
 
Don't follow you AA, what are you referring to as bad food for the orca's? Are you saying hatchery salmon are bad for them? Any proof that hatchery salmon are bad for them? (Not to mention that there are POP's PCB's and PBDE's in wild salmon). If so, they and we are doomed as we all know there are not enough wild salmon to go around as things are.
 
Wasn't referencing hatchery/wild debate at all WitW. Just the contaminants issue.

If 3/4 of the salmon the Southern Residents eat is Chinook - and that is contaminated.... how does providing MORE contaminated fish help the orcas? Why not take on the contaminants issue verses closing fisheries?

That was what I was getting at...
 
DFO is taking the least cost and least effective approach...close fisheries which will cost them nothing and does little to improve the runs in concern. How many years of no directed fisheries on Thompson Coho and what has that achieved? They are proposing long term pain and no gain!!!!! Get on with a recovery plan for Fraser Chinook already and do something that actually results in a success. You might have to find a way to fund these projects...but hey the rec anglers have been screaming for years now we are willing to pay more for our licenses if the money goes to the cause. WTF hasn't this happened yet???
 
Agreed @profisher with the Fraser chinook recovery plan being needed yesterday. I also agree that rec fishermen would be willing to help pay for this with an increase in licence fees as long as it goes to a good cause. I'd like to see the gov't prioritize this without further rec fishing support but given the recent track record of the feds unloading salmon conservation work on volunteers and NGO's in the past few decades I don't see that happening. Maybe a better chance of this new gov't taking salmon/environment more seriously but I won't hold my breath on that yet.
 
profisher said:
DFO is taking the least cost and least effective approach...close fisheries which will cost them nothing and does little to improve the runs in concern. How many years of no directed fisheries on Thompson Coho and what has that achieved? They are proposing long term pain and no gain!!!!! Get on with a recovery plan for Fraser Chinook already and do something that actually results in a success. You might have to find a way to fund these projects...but hey the rec anglers have been screaming for years now we are willing to pay more for our licenses if the money goes to the cause. WTF hasn't this happened yet???
Click to expand...

agreed profisher.... Big problem DFO only sets aside budget for studying salmon. there is no money for fixing anything. if a certain user group wants a bigger piece of the pie why not increase the size of the pie? capilano hatchery through the 80's released avg 1,762,000 chinook. 2000-2009 avg was only 454,000. there's just no $$$. DFO driving down the cheap hwy again.
 
All somebody has to do is look at the chart in this link http://wildfishconservancy.org/abou...d-fishery-chinook-catch-composition-1999-2010 to see where most of the Chinook that feed these whales are caught. The chart says 297,917 are caught in the Area F troll fishery that opens around June 20th. The SE Alaska summer troll fisher that opens July 1 catches that many as well. Then the winter/spring SE Alaska troll fishery takes at least another 100,000. It gets even crazier. The above quota's are set by the Pacific Salmon Council's Chinook Technical Committee based on projected abundance (jack returns the previous year & survival percentage predictions, etc). So for 2016, the above quotas are twice what last year's are. Many reports on this forum indicate that these projections may not pan out. By the time we really find out, the 600,000 Chinook are already caught as the above seasons fill their quotas in a few weeks.

FYI the www.wildfishconservancy.org also feels that the ocean troll fishery is responsible for the size reduction in Chinook based on the following:

The longer a Chinook stays out at sea (they grow & feed where the trollers fish, year around in Alaska) the greater chance they have of being caught.
 
Anyone who wants to hear about the South Vancouver Island Anglers approved project to raise 200,000 Chinook next spring in the Sooke Harbour for our resident killer whales is invited to attend a town hall meeting. Tuesday July 12th at 7pm at the Sooke Community Hall, downstairs in the dining room. The door is opposite the Legion. Here is a story that aired today on Chek 6 Proceeds from the tournament are being directed to this project.

http://www.cheknews.ca/hatching-plan-fatten-southern-resident-orcas-196242/
 
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